Seriously... it's all Greek to me.

September 3, 2009


Nathan and I are in Athens! We arrived this morning bright and early at 8:10, a whopping hour ahead of schedule. Usually, I’m all about being early on a flight, however, when you already have a 10 hour layover in an unfamiliar city with a very unfamiliar language, I’d have preferred to get an extra hour of sleep on the plane. Albeit we were in business class, so we got to lie down for the whole trip, it’s nothing compared to a real bed.

We each slept, probably not as long as we had hoped to rest, but at least we weren’t wide awake all night. Breakfast came way too early for us today, it was served to us somewhere around 1 a.m. our time.

Since we didn’t have any plans for today, and we had endless hours to spend, we decided to go the tourist route. We bussed it over to Pireaus port, checked our suitcases into a pretty sketchy “baggage check” and hit the road. Since I have way too much camera stuff here with me, I was rolling my big black bag and my medium camera bag around the city of Athens. The light at the end of THAT tunnel is that once we finally get situated in Sifnos tonight, I can rearrange my bags so I’m not carrying too much equipment with me at once.

We headed from Pireaus (via the metro) to the center of Athens, near Plaka, to have lunch. Lunch was mediocre, but it was a fun experience at a café. No big deal. I ordered the Greek Salad, because WHY NOT, right? Turns out it’s not really what we expect as salad as Americans, it was a few (like 3) leaves of lettuce, onions, olives, a brick of Feta, which I love, but mostly cucumbers and tomatoes. I don’t really care for either of the latter, but I did enjoy my olives and feta with 3 leaves of lettuce.

After lunch, we decided to try to go to the Acropolis. What a flippin’ adventure. Since we were on the side of it, instead of trying to find the actual entrance, we ended up going through tiny walkways between people’s front doors with signs that said “Acropolis -->”. Finally we got so miffed with ourselves (because we were so hot and tired of carrying my dang bags) that we decided to go back down and try to find the actual entrance. Even after that we still didn’t make it to the top. Instead, we chose to go to the Acropolis Museum which had two main benefits: a bathroom and air conditioning. Nathan wasn’t felling so hot so we hung out there, walked around a bit and just tried to relax. After we decided to get out of there, we found our way to a metro stop and hopped on the metro to bring us back to Pireaus. So that leaves me here, sitting, in an open door café, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for our boat to take us to Sifnos. Just get me to an island already!

Sappiness

Oh I've been feeling pretty guilty about our impending trip to Greece (however once I'm on the plane ready to fly out of MCO those feelings will be squashed by a mimosa in First Class! ;) ). James has decided in the last few days to get sappy on me. From telling me at bed time, "Mom, I REALLY need you. I really NEED you!" and "I want you to always be with me". Then yesterday in the car on the way home from school he said, "Mom... I really have to tell you something."
"Ok? What is it James?" I said for about the bazillionth time not expecting anything but the standard car talk.
"I really love you," he said in the most sincere quietest voice ever.
"Oh honey, thank you! That was really sweet, James!" I said back.
GAAAAAAAH! How am I supposed to NOT melt?

He and Kaitlyn are watching Wall-E right now and it's at a point where Wall-E and Eva get separated. James is standing at a distance away from the TV because he got scared, ran away, and then came back to watch. He muttered, fighting back the tears, "I really hope they are going to be friends forever!"

Books a million

I have found Kaitlyn with books in her bed for the last few nights. Usually I can hear the ruckus and I go in there and take them away and tell her, "Kaitlyn, NO books in bed." Sometimes that does the trick, other times, it does not. Last night, I told her, "Kaitlyn, if you get out of bed and go get books, I'm going to take Lovie away." I didn't hear anything else from her (she's got a cold and I figured she'd be out in a flash) so I figured she was out. When I checked on her at 9:30 before heading to my own bed, I found her, little Kaitlyn, surrounded by a sea of books. Not one or two, but TWELVE books. I piled them all up and went over to her book case and it looked like she had taken almost all of her books out of the book case and spread them all over the floor. Now how did I NOT hear that?!?! I giggled pretty hard when I saw the sea of books in her bed, but still, a bit perplexed that I hadn't heard her get out of bed, go to her book case and spill all the books.
I told Nathan about this little experience when I came back downstairs, and he said to me, "She's stealthy! Have you ever thought that maybe she doesn't get out of bed? That she reaches over her foot board and into the book case and and just pulls?" Oooooooh... good point. I'm going to have to clarify my words when I tell her that she's not allowed to get out of bed to get her books. Sigh. She's TWO and already outsmarting me. Nathan and I are in trouble. :)
After I checked on Kaitlyn, I checked on James. He was asleep, but Al Bundy style. His diaper was almost pushed all the way off of his bottom. I am thankful I checked on him rather than just assuming he was okay. We would have had a mess! I took him to the potty, got him diapered up again and put back in bed. I'm not even sure he was awake at all.
We have tried the Pull Ups for James at night. Yes, the NIGHT TIME pull ups, and have not had any success. They leak like crazy, or they just don't hold enough. James has always stockpiled his wee wee for during the night, even when we make him go before he gets into bed, AND at like 10:30 before we go to bed too. So now he's back into Overnights. Sigh. We'll get passed it someday.

James is ready...

to go see Grandma Marilyn in Iowa with his "suiscase" and his sword. What else do you need??? ;)

Where did we put those onesies?

Sigh. I went upstairs last night to check on the kids before turning in and found Kaitlyn's bare bottom staring me in the face again when I opened her door. Only this time, she had peed in her diaper and THEN had taken it off. Still, no mess in the bed (that I noticed anyway) thank goodness.
When James was about Kaitlyn's age, we had to start putting him to bed in 24 month onesies. This was to fix the problem of his little hands going into his diaper and pointing his penis UP by accident. When he would go potty, it would come right out out the top of the diaper instead of being absorbed. Now I think we're going to have to do the same trick with Kaitlyn, only to keep her from taking her diaper off!

...and THAT is how it's DONE. :)

Check out those dancin' feet!

... and then there were tears.

Kaitlyn cried when I dropped her off at school today (this was her second day). I think on the first day she was clueless as to what was happening when Mrs. Stoner was taking her out of the car, but today she understood that she'd be taken away from her Mommy. It broke my heart. However, the reassuring nature of Mrs. House carrying her to her classroom made me feel better. Before I drove out of the Methodist driveway, I already had my music turned up. :)

This is how I just found Kaitlyn in bed... So funny!

First Two Days of School

James and Kaitlyn started school this week. James got to go on Monday and Kaitlyn went today.
James first day went off without a hitch. I didn't expect any problems, and didn't have any either. :) He said he had a lot of fun! Big surprise. Ha.
My sweet baby girl. It was her first day of school EVER. I was nervous about dropping Kaitlyn off at school today, but James and I talked to her the whole time we were on our way there. I asked James to tell Kaitlyn that a teacher would come get her out of the car and walk her to her classroom. She seemed to be okay with it, and to my surprise, there were NO tears when I dropped her off. I think it has helped by her see James go all last year and then me explaining the drop off process to her about 10 times. I didn't cry either. Ha. I was almost teary-eyed after I drove through the loop to pick her up. She looked so happy, and she's such a big girl now!
My only problem I have with the pick up situation at the school is now I have to wait through two carpool lines. One to pick up James since he waits on the side of the school, and one for Kaitlyn, since she waits on the carpool loop. Sigh. Last year they had major traffic issues with the Winter Park police department threatening to shut down the school if they didn't do something about the traffic jam at pick up time. Their solution was to put kids on different sides of the school... Pre-K and K on the North side, and 3's and under on the carpool loop side. Whatever. I'll deal with it. I love that school so much, I'll sit in traffic twice a week for 20 minutes. :)

James on Monday, his official first day of school at the Methodist School!

James sits with Kaitlyn for a photo of her first day of school EVER at The Methodist School for Early Education.

Wii Tennis Videos

Watch this video of James playing Wii Tennis. It's so funny! He just keeps swinging and whaddyaknow... he hits the ball! Sometimes... :) Nevermind the tantrum by Miss Kaitlyn.

Narration by Kaitlyn: :)

It's a school night!

James starts school tomorrow! He will be in Mrs. Roach's class with a few friends that he's had before in his classes. Walker, Jacob, and Sarah were in his 3s class, and his friend Ryan had been his twos class. I'm hesitant only because he'll be going a lot more this year. Last year he went 3 days a week, and this year he'll be going all 5 days. On Wednesday, and maybe Monday, he'll be staying for "Afternoon Enrichment" and will be introduced to Spanish. He is on the waiting list for the class on Monday, which is Drama. Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit all know that James is supposed to be in Drama at some point in his lifetime, so hopefully this will be his entrance.
This afternoon, while Kaitlyn was taking her nap, James decided to ask us: "You know what we haven't had in a very long time?" Pause... "Candy!" Nathan and I had a pretty good chuckle at that, but laughed even harder when he asked Daddy if he knew what was inside the M&M he was eating. He bit into one and showed Nathan and said, "Candy!" We laughed more and told him that it was actually chocolate.
I decided to take the kids shopping this afternoon, so at 3 PM when Kaitlyn still wasn't awake from her nap, I went upstairs to wake her up. Apparently the monitors were off, I had turned one off due to some majorly annoying interference from the neighbors somewhere, and Nathan had turned off the one in the bedroom when he slept in this morning. So, when I went up there, and had thought she was still sleeping, she was not. In fact, when I went into her room, she told me, "Changed my diaper, Mommy." Huh? I didn't really get it... and she was pointing down in between where her bed butts up to the wall and the wall. There is about a 1.5 inch gap that is impossible to get rid of due to the wood frame that holds the mattress. I, stupidly, for a minute, thought that she was asking me to change her diaper, when in fact, she had done what she had said she did. She had taken her diaper off, and smashed it down through the crack and on to the floor. I about panicked when I went to "change" her and found a bare bottom under her dress. Thank GOODNESS she hadn't gone to the bathroom at ALL. Whew. That could have been tragic.
James really didn't want to go shopping today, and told me that he didn't want to go. He's been playing with his "Rescue Pack" (from Go Diego Go) a lot lately, and he decided that it would be fun for Rescue Pack to go with us in the car (cringe). Rescue Pack sings. Yes, sings... a very annoying song that most mothers (especially Aunt Beth :) ) can't stand. So... I figured, whatever... if he's happy with Rescue Pack and he'll go shopping then so be it. Pick your battles. BUT, then I told him, "James, if you bring Rescue Pack in the car, you can't play his song while I'm driving because it'll distract me, okay?" He nodded, no problem with that, he understood.
I got the car started and the kids strapped in, and when I sat in the driver's seat ready to put my seat belt on, James pushed Rescue Pack's button and he started his annoying song. I looked back at James and he said, "We're not driving yet so I can play the song." OOOOOH NO. He's already turning into his FATHER! :)
We started our shopping at Babies R Us, no big deal, got some diapers and some new jammies that were on clearance for the kids. Then we hiked over to Old Navy (with the kids in the Babies R Us cart, because I don't care), and shopped for a while there for new clothes for ME. Not them. I was able to pull off having them in the cart for a while, until James wanted go see the doggie with the button. ??? I don't know... but we did find a doggie on a bench with a button that you push and he talks. Good memory, James.
They were troopers the whole way through, and I even had them looking at books when I was in the dressing room trying on clothes. Everything was great, really. So when James was begging me to be able to get a toy out of the "bubble gum" style machine, I said yes and gave them both a quarter. Thankfully, they had two kinds of machines. One was the kind that sold the really small things that are chocking hazards, and the other had bouncy balls. Perfect! I thought.
As soon as I told James he could get one, he was pointing at the orange one saying that he wanted that one. I tried to explain the "unpredictability" of the whole thing and then just pulled the Mrs. Wilhite line (teacher of 3s at Methodist). I told them "You get what you get and you don't cry a bit." James went first, put his quarter in and turned the knob and out came a blue bouncy ball! So exciting! Little did we know that when Kaitlyn would take her turn she'd get GREEN of all colors. Oh NO. Kaitlyn surprised me and asked James if he wanted the green one, and when he said yes and thank you, Kaitlyn decided that she didn't really want the blue one. So then she threw it and it bounced away about 10 feet into a corner. Sigh. I thought we were going to have a tantrum but Kaitlyn actually got a hold of herself and was happy with the blue ball. Whew.
As if I thought I hadn't had enough, I took the kids to Dillard's after that so I could take advantage of the Estee Lauder bonus gift. Silly me, I even picked up a few dresses to try on. After I had paid for my stuff at the Estee Lauder counter, I hauled the kids back to the dressing room to try on the dresses.
It's amazing what kids find to entertain themselves while in the dressing room with Mommy. James found one of those sticky papers from the lint roller on the floor and was treating it like it was the best toy you could find EVER. So naturally, Kaitlyn wanted it. There was a struggle, there was crying, there was a bit of screaming, and there was a naught spot time out for Kaitlyn. All in all, 10 minutes later, out we walked with no new dresses for Mommy, and a sticky piece of paper... oh, and a bag full of Estee Lauder goodies. :)
I just realized that I've been in a bad habit of waiting for lots of things to write about before I blog, so they are getting a bit long. Oops. Sorry. I hope no one cares.
Now that the kids were hungry and I had gotten my goodies from Dillard's, I figured that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the kids and I got some dinner while we were out. Nathan was out watching the golf tourney anyway, so he wasn't home. I asked James what he wanted for dinner and he said, "Pizza!" Of course.
There is a Pizza Hut really close to the mall that we had been to, so we headed over there. In my head I was envisioning the old style pizza restaurant that had the big buffet of pizza, a huge salad bar for those watching their weight (ahem), a lot of kids with their parents and lots of laughter and fun had by all. Boy was I wrong. Times have changed.
There was one waiter for the entire restaurant that was about the size of the smallest McDonald's you've ever seen. There was NO salad bar, no pizza buffet, and to top it all off, WEIRD poor trashy people. Ha ha.
We sat next to a table of 6. There was one father with two older sons. The oldest son smelled like big cigarette and was with a girlfriend who had REALLY bad teeth, blue hair, a baseball cap and a necklace with a skull on it. The "middle" child, a boy about the age of 12, looked exactly like his father, surprisingly very cute, but at one point slapped the older brother in the head. The "youngest" was a little sweet skinny little baby named Destiny. Clearly the baby daddy was the daddy of them all, but the woman was no way old enough to be the mother of the other two boys. At one point, while my kids were coloring and playing with their papers, I looked over to the daddy (wearing a Mt. Dew shirt) who was letting the baby suck on a straw full of soda. SICK. I mean really, people... what are you THINKING? The worst part is that the whole time I was there I was worried that they were looking at ME and judging ME because my kids were talking loudly and not sitting still. Oh how distorted.
Oh, and when we got our Thin and Crispy pizza, it was cold. Awesome.
I had better get to bed... it's a school night!

Kaitlyn graduates her Safe Start refresher course

Kaitlyn has been taking swim lessons from Ms. Denise Parker at the Crosby YMCA for the past month. It's a "class" that's only supposed to last two to three weeks, but due to illnesses, rescheduling stuff, etc. it has lasted about a month. This video is from Wednesday, when she got to swim in her "summer" clothing. She finished with her last lesson this morning. She's such a good swimmer now! :) Good job Kaitlyn! Now we just have to get in to the bath tub, er, I mean pool we have out back and practice.

KCK, like they call it on the news.

I flew to Kansas City at the crack of dawn last Friday for my friend Brian's wedding. He's a great friend of mine, and has been since my early college years. He's one of those friends that you can go for three years without talking to, but when you do, it's right back to where you left off. Usually involving sarcasm on his part. Ha.

Brian, Brandon, Lucas and Joe are all from Winterset, Iowa, and when I first met Lucas in English class in 1996 at ISU, I met Joe, Brandon and Brain soon after. I spent a lot of time with these guys in college at the (they were all Sig Eps), probably too much, but we have been friends ever since and have now seen each other through living abroad, long relationships, weddings, etc. It's fun to be able to see these guys, too bad it's only once in a while! Too bad, too, that I accidentally drank a bit too much Chardonnay. OOPS. Ha.

I also got to catch up with the Redstone family on Saturday. It was so much fun to be able to see their house, see those kids (growing like WEEDS), and catch up with Troy and Kristalynn. We had a great dinner and I learned a lot about gardening and compost piles. ;) Ha ha, no really, we had a very nice time chatting. I even got to help with one of their Mac problems, so I felt pretty important. I think I earned my dinner. ;)

Here are some pictures from the wedding. I was happy to be without the kids for the weekend, but really missed Nathan (well of course I missed my kids too, you know what I mean ;) ). I didn't even bless the dance floor with my presence until the traditional interlocking swaying circle of Sig Eps and friends for "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

Best wishes to Brian and Laura as they begin their journey as a married couple. Cheers! Hint: avoid too much Chardonnay. Ha.

Me with Lucas and Chrissy. Such a fun couple!

Me and Mike Stitt.

Me, Brandon and Rick.

Me and Mr. Brian Tadlock minus his bride. Where was Laura anyway? :)

Me and Joe. He's CRAZY. Ha.

Two of most favorite people ever, Lucas and Joe.

Mooned

Kaitlyn has decided that bedtime is boring. So, she has been getting out of bed and bringing things into her bed to keep her entertained. The obvious things are cars, toys, or books, even if it's so dark she can't see them. The not-so-obvious though are things like her step-stool or her container of Huggies wipes. I'm not sure why she does this, although she always has had a fascination with pulling the wipes out of the container. I can handle this... just as long as I don't have to find her enveloped in a sea of wipes some night. I did find her in bed with the wipes after she woke up from her nap today. As soon as I walked in she greeted me with a warning that she had "poopies". Sigh.
One surprise for me happened the other night when I went in to check on her after she had fallen asleep. I opened up her door and looked in to her room to find a bare butt staring me in the face. Yes, she had taken off her pj bottoms AND had taken off her diaper. Thankfully, the diaper was still clean and she hadn't gone to the bathroom in her sleep. WHEW. Crisis averted. I had to laugh though, my baby girl was "mooning" me! ;)

James went to his second dental appointment today. What a success! I absolutely can't fathom WHY he is so good in the dental chair. Of course I'm not complaining, but I really have to give high marks to the hygienist and whoever made the decision to put in flat screen LCD TVs above the patient's chair. Brilliant! I fear, however, that Kaitlyn Beth will throw them a curve ball once her turn rolls around! Ha.

5 Years and Counting!

Nathan and I celebrated our 5th wedding Anniversary yesterday, and we celebrated it in style. We had Mimi, our nanny, come over and spend the night with the kids. So, we left our house yesterday at lunch time and headed over to The Ravenous Pig for lunch and drinks... yes, drinks. I really really really really REALLY (like James says)like their Margarita. It's so tasty... it's expensive, but so worth the money!
I had the pub burger for lunch, with accompanying truffle fries (I'm addicted, totally addicted), and Nathan had an Oyster and Shrimp Po Boy. Oh boy! We also split the deviled eggs for an appetizer, as we both are insanely pleased with the guilty goodness of deviled eggs. ;)
After we left the Pig, actually, after we rolled out of the Pig, we headed to the Millenia Mall for a bit of shopping. I was still enjoying the effects of my margarita so we spent a little too much money... ha. No, actually, we did pretty well. I bought a purse from Kenneth Cole that was marked WAY down, and both of us got some new shoes. They are Ecco shoes, super comfy walking shoes for our trek over in Greece. Nathan got a new t-shirt at Urban Outfitters, and I got some sliver sandals that were on sale that look like they are right out of Mama Mia. Greece, here we come! Now I just need to lose 15 lbs. and buy some hippie dresses.

Did I even blog about that? Yes, we're going to Greece! I can't wait!!!!!! We're going in September and finally have concrete plans. Flying into Athens, departing to Sifnos for 2 days, then to Milos for 2 days, then to Santorini for 3 days, and then back to Athens for the night before we fly home. Ana's gonna kill me for not picking Mykonos, but Nathan and I decided we'd rather see smaller islands and Santorini. Sorry Ana. :(


Anyway, back to our anniversary escapade.... After we left the mall, we headed over to the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes for the night. Holla! :) We changed in some of our airline miles for money credit at the Ritz. So, we spoiled ourselves with a night stay and a couple's massage at the spa, and then some relaxation at the private pool. Oh yeah. It was amazing!!!
The room left little to be desired... full mini bar (which we are still too cheap to use), a single serving coffee maker that actually made good coffee, and the view was of the golf course, pool and patio down below. We also had a veranda, too bad it was raining when we got there.
The bathroom was indulgent, and the travel sized lotion and shower gel, just happened to be the same scent of perfume that I wear. Score! I snatched those up, and then again when they replenished them when we were out of the room. I <3 travel sized things. I don't know why!! I'm such a sucker!
We decided to go to Season's 52 for dinner, so we headed there by "black car" which was pretty dang pricey, it isn't a complimentary service apparently. Humph. Dinner was fabulous... we started out with an artichoke and goat cheese flatbread that I vowed to learn how to make. I had halibut with shrimp risotto and veggies and Nathan had scallops with orzo pasta. We split an Australian bottle of Shiraz, which was awesome, and of course the desserts were great too. They are such teasers though... they don't even ASK you if you want to see the desserts, they just bring them over to you, set them in front of you and watch you drool to the point where you can't possibly say no anymore. I picked the chocolate and peanut butter one (duh) and Nathan picked the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
We taxi'd it over to Howl at the Moon on International Drive. Nathan had been to one of these bars in Tampa (I think he said Tampa), so he thought we'd have fun there. We did... maybe too much. Oh well. I know for SURE we didn't have as much fun as the very large girls who were sitting next to us celebrating one of the girl's birthday's and wearing those horrible birthday hats. YIKES. Ha ha ha.
This morning we enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant and then headed over to our massage. That was awesome. It was literally the largest spa I've ever seen. They probably employ at least 20 massage therapists. The pool time that we had in the afternoon was fabulous too, very quiet, very relaxing, very kid-less. :)
We got home a few hours ago, and everything here at the house is in great shape, except for the garage door. Somehow the spring broke and it wasn't opening. We thought Mimi's car was going to be stuck in the garage, but He Man (aka Nathan) got the door open and we got the cars out. Now, though, he's lying in bed with an ice pack on his sore back. Sigh... so much for that massage. Oh well, it was the day that was wonderful, not just the massage.
Happy Anniversary, Nathan. Love you tons.

I quit

"I quit!" is the phrase most used by James lately. It is mostly used when he's upset at Kaitlyn, or me, or Daddy when James doesn't get his way. He usually seeks solace after this phrase is shouted to the rooftops in my room, or on the naughty spot. I think it's funny that he voluntarily goes to sit on the naughty spot (the bottom stair of the staircase that leads upstairs), even when he's not in trouble and just needs a place to sit.
One day, while we were in South Dakota, James was mad at me for something and he told me, "I quit you Mommy!" and his tone of voice was saying, "I'm going to go find a new mommy now because I don't like you!" Ha ha. It made me feel sad... for about .5 seconds and then I giggled.
I wanted to get another story into the blog from a while ago too... this one is exemplifying how James' sayings and vocabulary are straight out of the 50's black and white cinema and television. He fell down one day, and since I could tell it wasn't one of those falls that hurt very much, rather was more scary than hurtful, I asked him, "Did you get scared, honey?"
His reply, "I sure did, Mom, I SURE did." WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! :)
Sometimes when James is crying and I'm not sure why, I'll ask him, "What's wrong James? Does something hurt?"
"Yes, Mommy, my feelings hurt!" Aw, what a sweetie.
James likes to play with Kaitlyn a lot, which of course I love, since it keeps them entertained and Kaitlyn absolutely adores James. James likes to play the "I'm older, therefore can tell Kaitlyn what to do" card and gets a little bossy at times. It's hysterical to hear him try to get Kaitlyn's attention, all he does is say her name 3 times really fast. It doesn't sound like "Kaitlyn" anymore though, it gets morphed into "Kellan".
He'll say, "Kellan! Kellan! Kellan! Watch this!" So funny! He does say her name correctly most of the time though, especially when he's mad and it comes out as "Kait-LYN!" Ha ha.
Kaitlyn has started a Safe Start refresher course at the Crosby YMCA. Last year we swam with Alisha, and this year we are swimming with Denise. Denise has been there for a long time, and she is always highly recommended. I don't think Alisha is swimming anymore, she's in nursing school. SO... we've started with Denise.
The first few days were kinda rocky. Kaitlyn cried, "I want MOMMY!" the whole lesson. She did, however, change her tune when she'd get out of the pool to, "I'm a good swimmer!" So funny... as SOON as she was out and safe with me, "I'm a good swimmer, MOMMY!"
The second morning we were driving over to the Y, and I told Kaitlyn that we were going to go swimming with Miss Denise.
"I don't like Miss Denise, Mommy! I don't want to go swimming!"
"I know," I told her, "but Miss Denise is nice and she's teaching you how to swim."
"She's teaching me how to swim, Mommy?" (She repeats EVERYTHING I tell her.)
"Yes, honey, she's teaching you how to swim."
"Okay, Mommy."
Sometimes Kaitlyn gets derailed with her words when she's talking to me or Nathan. If she's talking to me and starts calling me "Daddy", she'll change mid word and say "Dommy" or "Dammy". Likewise, when she's talking to Nathan and she starts calling him "Mommy" she changes it to "Moddy" or "Maddy". It's so funny! There will come a day when that goes away, and it'll be a sad day for me! :)
One of the cutest things that Kaitlyn says right now is "Mommy! I got someping!" I just am in love with the way she says that for some reason. Aw, my baby is growing up!! :(
My Mom is off to Utah today to help Dad through his knee replacement surgery on July 30th. I pray he has a successful and easy surgery and a fast recovery! Love you Daddy!

Customers!

Lately, James has been obsessed with the movie Cars. This fascination comes and goes, but now it's really in full swing. He loves watching the movie, and also plays with his new "Poingo" toy that is basically a pen looking thing that reads books for him. He has 4 books that go with the Poingo, but has yet to read any of them but Cars.
There is a part of the book where Lightning McQueen is telling Doc that he's "not a bulldozer" he's a race car. In the movie, Doc replies with, "Whoa, ho!" and it's not in the book... so James adds it. It's too funny. EVERY TIME. Ha.
The other obsession besides the story in general and quoting miscellaneous parts, is his adaptation of this to real life. Especially when someone knocks at our front door. "Customers!" he yells. Just like Sally says it, too. It's just so funny.
Kaitlyn pulled one over on us and decided to finally cut the missing tooth that has been a gap in her beautiful smile. It's the one on her left side, right next to the top front tooth. This is usually one of the first 8 teeth to come in when kids are infants, but for some reason, it has just now decided to "sprout". So strange. The Casey side of my family (especially Delos, my grandfather) is known for missing these two adult teeth. There are some descendants of Delos' in our family that are missing them, and now we're wondering if Kaitlyn is missing her left adult tooth. Hmmm... time will tell. Looks like she's gonna need an x-ray to figure this one out.
Kaitlyn had her first haircut the other day. I took her and James to Fantastic Sams for this brand new experience of Kaitlyn's. She was scared, so I sad in the seat with her and put her on my lap. I couldn't take a picture because I was sitting with her. :( The positive thing about it though, is that it really wasn't a big deal at all. I told the lady that was cutting her hair only to take off the very ends to even it all out. She did just that... and only took off a minuscule amount of hair in the back. I'm glad I had a coupon for a kids' cut for $6.95. I could have even done that. I am happy, however, that it was a pleasant experience for Kaitlyn and that the lady didn't whack off her beautiful curls. :)
This blog is getting long because I've been a slacker... but I wanted to make note that one of my best friends is going to give birth tomorrow to her second son. Cindy, has a scheduled C-section in the morning. We are very anxious to meet baby Zachary Cole, and pray to God above that everything goes well for the Farrar family tomorrow. This is their last baby since Cindy has a horrible (and I mean horrible) time with pregnancies. I am thankful to God that she didn't have the complications this time that she had with Field, and that she has carried this sweet boy to term. Now... who is he gonna look like? :)
Sheesh, and one more thing... today is Mom's birthday, and she's way over in Germany. :( We miss you mama!

Road Trips

We've been busy the last few days. On Friday, the kids and I headed out to Clermont to see Cindy and Field one last time before new baby Zach is born. Those Farrars sure know how to party... for toddlers, that is. They had one of those huge blown up water slides for the kids to play on. Field was a natural, and had to show my scared kids how to climb up the thing and slide down. It took James a while to want to get wet and climb up there, but after the first slide down, he was hooked. Kaitlyn was the one that needed my help climbing the foot hole/handle slippery wall. Of course, I didn't bring a bathing suit either, so I got pretty wet. Nothing a good ol' hot Florida day can't fix. I was dry in about 1.4 seconds. Cindy and I watched the kids play while we caught up, then we had lunch time. Kaitlyn even got to have a nap in the big guest bed. What a big girl!
James was incredibly sad to have to leave Field... he cried, and cried, and cried. He's getting back into (has he ever NOT been in to?) the tantrum phase. Kicking, screaming, all of that hullabaloo. It's crazy. Nathan and I try to talk him down most of the time, but in this instance, he needed to go chill on the "naughty spot" for a few minutes. Man, he's getting strong and heavy!
On Saturday, Nathan and the kids and I drove to Lakeland to see Trippi and the rest of the McGlinn family (Toby, Madey and Tobyn). I was originally going to go down by myself to photograph their family, but we decided to all go and spend the day. That was much more fun! :) I did shoot photos, and I'm still working on editing through them and such, so check my blog in a few days for the photo highlights.
When we arrived, we heard the dreaded story that Madey had cut Tobyn's hair. It's a little strange, really, since when Trippi had texted me in the car that their morning had been awful, I said to Nathan, "Madey probably cut her hair... or Tobyn's..." Funny! Ok, not really. Ha. Granted I hadn't seen what Tobyn's hair was like before the "day at the salon", but I didn't think it looked that bad... Trippi thought it was a bit mullet-like. :)
James and Madey have so much fun together. Madey knows way more than James about death, doom and destruction due to her parents' fantastically weird obsession with horror films. At one point, Trippi and I were watching Madey pretend she was dead while lying in a closed bench that sits at the foot of her bed. Weirdo. ;) I was shocked that even James wanted to try it though!
One of the highlights of the trip, for me, was when Madey had brought out her "boom box" and started playing a slow Christmas song... I can't remember which one it was. About 2/3 of the way through the song, I looked over and down the hallway to see Madey and James holding hands, swaying back and forth, dancing together. AWWWWW! Serioushttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2602857&id=750477753ly! I tried to get every one's attention to look and see, but it was too late. Oh my goodness it was just so cute!
Kaitlyn had another nice nap in Toby and Trippi's bed, and after she woke up we played for a bit in their back yard. We fed Sully, their tortoise, leaves and flowers and played on their play scape. There was even some jumping rope going on at one point. We had a blast!

Before we headed to Lakeland, I made the kids clean up. ;) JK.

Madey getting ready to hide in her trunk and be "dead". I'm tellin' ya... kids these days. Sigh. Ha ha.

Madey and James

Trippi "punking it out"- look at that bomb of a mess on the floor. :)

Sully! He eats leaves and flowers, what a cool looking dude!

Chomp, chomp, chomp... "Thanks Mike."

"Uh, Mike? Do you think you could rip me off another one of those leaves?"

"Oh come you, you expect me to get full on that?"

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

Tobyn on their playscape.

Tobyn and Kaitlyn loved playing with the rocks by the fire pit.

"Hey Kaitlyn, if you be quiet, we can throw these rocks in the fire pit and make my daddy mad."

"Witches unite!"

Mike pretends to throw Madey into the fire pit. Ha!

On our way home, we hit TGI Friday's for some dinner. Check out this photo that I snagged with my phone that is just awesome....

That 70's Show isn't so kid friendly.

So last night I was lying on the couch watching some TV after an exhausting day. Nathan was out walking the dog, and the kids and I were just hangin'. That 70's Show was on the TV (one of my absolute favorites), and Donna was mad at Fez for ruining her wedding dress. She said to him, "I'm gonna kick your ass!" Guess what I heard come out of James' mouth? "I'm gonna kick your assssss!" Oh no. I ignored it... didn't do a single thing, said nothing, kept quiet. Thank goodness it hasn't resurfaced yet. ABC Family should maybe bleep out some things. GEEZ.
I know, for a fact, that quote... "I'm gonna kick your ass." is going to surface at the very wrong place, at the very wrong time. Ha.

Ahhh, home sweet home.

We got home last night after a long day! Whew!
The kids and I started the day off yesterday by getting packed up and checked out of the hotel. Wouldn't you know... as soon as I had returned my key cards, put most things in the car but was still rolling the suitcases, Kaitlyn turned to me and said, "I have poopies, Mommy!" Oh geez. So off to the bathroom in the lobby we went, and whaddayaknow... no changing table. Awesome. Pull up some bathroom tile Kaitlyn!
I texted Kevin (who was with the kids, en route from Rapid City to Sioux Falls) to make sure he would be at the airport at 4:30 to help me with my 5 tons of crap that I had hauled along on the trip. Agreed, he'd be there at 4:30 at the Enterprise desk.
We picked up some food for the plane ride at the local "Grab N Go" gas station, you know, the usual... M&M's, two Lunchables with ham and cheese, etc. Pretty nutritional stuff there! The kids, especially James, were thoroughly excited to get Lunchables (James' first experience was on a picnic with Harrison, Bennett and Aunt Beth). At least we had one orange in the bag... that made me feel much better! Ha.
We got to the Enterprise place to return the car, so I left all the stuff in the car and went into the airport to tell them that I had the car but still needed to unload. Kevin and family were still no where to be found, so the nice guy at Enterprise helped me get all my junk out of the car, get my car returned, and walked us to the ticketing counter to check in. Lovely. Thank you kind guy. We chatted about Florida, he had lived in Tampa for a while.
We headed up through security and by the time boarding started, Kevin and kids still hadn't been through security yet. I was thoroughly excited to see them boarding the plane after we had all gone to the bathroom one last time. I seriously thought they were going to miss the flight. Turns out someone had a screw driver in their bag through security. Who was that anyway? I never heard.
The flight was uneventful, thank goodness. Kaitlyn had a first. She sat in her seat by herself instead of in her car seat. I literally didn't have enough hands on the flight there to carry the seat, so Kevin did it for me. This time around I elected to check the thing. I thought I had made the WRONG decision when we first got seated. Kaitlyn threw a fit because she wasn't in the window seat (where she is required to sit if there is a car seat involved). I had her in the aisle, and she didn't like that much. I bribed her to calm down with a half of a pack of M&M's, and told her if she didn't stop crying that I'd take them away. #1 Mom award nomination, right here, thank you. It worked though, and the rest of the flight was great.
When we started our decent and I had to turn off Cars on the computer, James started acting extremely bothered. He was saying that his tummy hurt, so naturally I asked him if he was going to throw up... he said yes. OH NO. GET THE BARF BAG! I got it out and opened it. He put his face in it and then said that he was fine. Oh thank goodness.
After we got over that, he started saying that he had to potty really bad. He said, "OOOOh, I have to go poottyyyy!" for the next 20 minutes while we landed and deplaned (he even tried to go into the bathroom when we were walking off the plane). Poor kid, I didn't think he was going to make it to the bathroom. He provided some entertainment for the people around us on the plane, and I'm sure, they were silently rooting for him to make it to the potty. Everyone, on the way out, was telling me that there was a bathroom at the top of the jet way. He made it. Whew!
We were so excited to see DADDY! Both kids ran up to him and gave him gigantic hugs and kisses. Love is so beautiful. The smiles even spread to those around us that were watching the kids reunite with their Daddy. So sweet.
Since we had that potty stop, Nathan had already gotten all of our luggage from the baggage claim, including both car seats. Onward! Home! Oh, wait, what Kevin? Mandy accidentally went to the wrong airport to pick you guys up? Oh, well, we'll all fit in the VAN! So, in we piled, all 8 of us and our luggage into the Odyssey. Three Miller kids in the back, the Wilcke kids and me in the middle, and Nathan and Kevin in the front. Voilla! We felt like clowns in a car... or sardines in a can... you get the picture. It was fun though, and we made it home safely. It was fun to see the Miller kids reunite with their mom.
The kids slept until 10 this morning, which was wonderful for me. We just got home from the doctor's office, not much to report on that. James is sick, but we think it's viral. I got a prescription for him though, in case it doesn't go away in a few days. It's most likely a sinus infection if it hangs around for a while. Poor kid.
We are all very happy to be home!